Dendritic cells in transplantation tolerance

Description of projects available to graduate students:
1) Understanding the role of dendritic cells in liver transplant tolerance.

Here we seek to elucidate the role of dendritic leukocytes, - highly specialized antigen-presenting cells, in determining the balance between organ transplantation tolerance and immunity. Studies involve elucidation of the roles of key signaling molecules (ie, TLR and co-regulatory molecules)
in the dialogue between dendritic cells (DC) and T cells, and investigation of the
function of DC in organ allograft models.

Funded by NIH Grant R01 DK 49745.


2) Defining tolerogenic DC in non-human primates

This study is designed to evaluate the tolerogenicity of donor-derived dendritic cell subsets for the promotion of transplantation tolerance in organ-allografted rhesus macaques. Both biologic and pharmacologic agents known to promote DC tolerogenicity will be evaluated for their capacity to maximize the ability of the donor DC to induce alloantigen-specific T cell unresponsiveness.

Funded by NIH Grant U01 AI/DK 51698.


3) Plasmacytoid DC and Transplant Tolerance

Plasmacytoid DC (pDC) are a recently identified subset of DC that appear to play an important role in the regulation of tolerance induction. Our efforts are focused on elucidating the mechanisms underlying the ability of pDC to regulate alloimmune responses and transplant outcome.

Funded by NIH Grant R01 AI60994.

Techniques graduate student will learn:
DC culture and subset analysis, T cell isolation and quantification of allospecific T cell responses in vitro and in vivo, Treg analysis, MLR, ELISA, FACS, CFSE, cell migration, ELISPOT, molecular techniques (RT-PCR, EMSA, microarray analysis, RPA), organ transplantation in animal models